Editing May Days (section)

== Background ==
[[File:Casa Milà (1914).jpg|thumb|[[Casa Milà]] was seized by the United Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC) in 1936. During much of the civil war it housed the [[Executive Council of Catalonia|Catalan Ministry of the Economy and Agriculture]]]]
The Francoist military rebellion of July 1936 failed in [[Barcelona]], and since then the city, as well as the rest of [[Catalonia]], had been under the control of workers' militias, especially ones associated with the anarchist trade union ''[[Confederación Nacional del Trabajo]]'' (CNT-FAI) and the socialist trade union ''[[Unión General de Trabajadores]]'' (UGT). Just after taking the last rebelling barracks, the anarchist leaders met with the President of the [[Generalitat de Catalunya]] [[Lluis Companys]]. It resulted in the [[Central Committee of Antifascist Militias of Catalonia]] being established, the ''de facto'' government of Barcelona and Catalonia. It represented most parties from the ''Front d'Esquerres'' (the name of the [[Popular Front (Spain)|Popular Front]] in Catalonia). The Generalitat and the central government had lost all freedom of action and assisted passively in the revolution that was taking place in [[Catalonia]] and extended to [[Aragon]]. The industries were [[collectivization|collectivized]], but there was always the same problem when the petitions of loans to the banks (collectivized but under control of communists and the government) were denied because those industries were not being supervised by the Generalitat.<ref>Hugh Thomas, p. 590.</ref> In October, the committee dissolved itself, and its members became councilors of the government of the Generalitat of Catalonia. However, the [[Control Patrols|''Patrullas de Control'']] ("Control Patrols", a revolutionary body that had a repressive character and in which CNT-FAI had a relative majority) continued their activities freely because of the inability of the Catalan government to control them.

The climate of distrust and confrontation was present not only among republican institutions and workers' organizations but also between those organizations, especially of anarchists toward socialists, communists and Catalan nationalists. Even among the communists, there was much division. The [[Communist Party of Spain (main)|Communist Party of Spain]] (PCE) and the [[Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia]] (PSUC) followed the official doctrine of the [[Soviet Union]] and supported the separate handling of war and revolution and defending the [[Second Spanish Republic]]. The PCE was the major communist party in the country, but the PSUC was the main communist organization in Catalonia. At the other extreme, the anti-authoritarian [[POUM|Workers' Party of Marxist Unification]] (POUM) of former [[Right Opposition|Right]] and [[Left Opposition]] radically opposed [[Joseph Stalin]] and supported carrying out the revolution while the war was raging; the anarchists agreed on that point with the POUM.<ref>Hugh Thomas, p. 700.</ref>

Tension was rising because a chain of events that took place during the winter that heated the political climate and paved the way for what would take place later. The PCE's campaign against the POUM had begun in March during a political conference in Valencia. The POUM leaders were vilified and accused of being covert [[Nazi]] agents under a false revolutionary propaganda of being enemy agents infiltrated in the country.<ref name="Thomas701">Hugh Thomas, p. 701.</ref> The POUM had come to propose an invitation for [[Leon Trotsky]] to reside in Catalonia, despite its differences with him.<ref name="Thomas701" /> The POUM leaders were becoming increasingly wary during the spring of 1937. Tension in the streets of Barcelona was becoming evident of the arrival of a hot spring: the ''Patrullas de Control'' were led by [[José Asens]] and continued arbitrarily arresting and murdering in their infamous ''paseos''.<ref group="note">''Paseo'' (literally 'take a walk') was a euphemism used during the Spanish Civil War to refer to executions by a [[firing squad]]. The victim would be "released" and later shot in the back while he walked away from his captors.</ref> Other anarchist patrols practiced expropriations. [[Josep Tarradellas]], as Companys' right hand, was determined to unify the security forces in Catalonia under one command and to finish with the ''Patrullas de Control''.<ref>Hugh Thomas, p. 703.</ref> On 26 March, Tarradellas banned members of the police from having political affiliation and demanded for all political organizations to hand over their weapons. Thus, anarchists withdrew from the government of the Generalitat of Catalonia. The open crisis forced Companys to give in to their demands, anarchists retained their weapons, and the Control Patrols remained in place.<ref>Hugh Thomas, p. 704.</ref>

On 25 April, a force of [[Carabineros#Spanish Carabineros under the Monarchy and Republic|''Carabineros'']] forced patrols of CNT in [[Puigcerdà]] to hand over control of the customs house. [[Juan Negrín]], the Finance Minister, had resolved to end the anomaly under which the CNT controlled that important border.<ref name="Thomas705">Hugh Thomas, p. 705.</ref> Puigcerdá had become a center of espionage, falsification of passports and clandestine leakage. Its mayor, Antonio Martin, insisted on general collectivization but raised his own livestock.<ref name="Thomas705" /> After a violent confrontation occurred, he and several of his men were killed. Negrín then found it easier to gain control over the other customs posts.

The [[Civil Guard (Spain)|''Guardia Nacional Republicana'']] and the ''[[Guardia de Asalto]]'' ("Assault Guards") were sent to [[Figueras]] and other cities in northern Catalonia to replace CNT patrols. In Barcelona, fear began of an outbreak of open warfare between the anarchists and the POUM against the government and the communists. Each side formed weapon caches and secretly fortified its buildings in for fear that its rivals would attack it first.<ref name="Thomas706">Hugh Thomas, p. 706.</ref>

The tense calm continued for one week. [[May Day]], traditionally a day of celebration, was spent in silence, as the UGT and the CNT agreed to suspend their parades, which inevitably would have caused riots.<ref name="Thomas706" />